Vegan Snickerdoodles with Vanilla Banana Ice Cream

April 21, 2014

Josh and I got into a really bad habit this winter, which went something like this: have drinks with friends, come home and have a cookie competition against one another. Josh would make the real deal with gluten-full flour and refined sugar while I concocted a gluten-free, vegan alternative. We would try one another’s cookies and Josh usually won. Until one night he didn’t.

The night I won I had improvised by blending some puffed rice cereal into a flour. The cookies were gluten-free and vegan snickerdoodles, made with oat flour, puffed brown rice flour, coconut oil, honey and cinnamon. The puffed brown rice flour gave the cookie a lightness that usually escapes gluten-free baked goods and I was hooked.

Here is that night’s version re-created when sober. For Easter yesterday, I whipped up some dairy-free vanilla banana ice-cream to make them into ice cream sandwiches for the holiday. Feel free to use real dairy ice cream or skip this step all together and eat the cookies plain.

WHY THEY’RE HEALTHY// These vegan snickerdoodles are also gluten-free. Made with whole grain oats, these cookies contain lignans, a plant chemicals that has been found to prevent heart disease. Oats can lower your cholesterol and are a good source of fiber. The health benefits of coconut oil can be found in our post 5 Reasons to Use Coconut Oil and the health benefits of honey can be found in our post 5 Health Benefits of Honey. Creamy banana ice cream is dairy-free (vegan) and contains no added sugar; the perfect healthy snack or dessert.//

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

Mix the six dry ingredients in a medium bowl until well blended. In a separate bowl, whisk together the melted coconut oil, liquid sweetener and vanilla extract.

Add wet ingredients to the dry and mix until well combined.

Divide the batter into 6 or 12 pieces (depending on the size you want - I went big), roll into balls with your hands and coat with cinnamon sugar mixture, if using.

Place cookies several inches apart on the baking sheet and bake for 6 minutes, remove from oven and gently press cookies down with the back of a spoon, and bake for 4-6 minutes more. They should come out a bit soft as they will become harder as they cool.

For the vanilla banana ice cream:

Blend the bananas in a food processor until they are the consistency of soft serve ice cream. You may need to occasionally stop the processor and use a spatula the scrap the banana from the sides.

In a small bowl mix the arrowroot (or cornstarch) with the non-dairy milk and vanilla extract until thoroughly combined.

Once smooth and creamy, add in arrowroot/milk/vanilla mixture and process until well combined.

Transfer to a freezer container and freeze until solid, allowing to thaw for about 5 minutes before serving.

Assembly:

Allow the cooled cookies to chill in the the freezer, at least 30 minutes until slightly hardened. Scoop a generous amount of ice cream onto half of the cookies and place the remaining cookies on top. Gently press down and smooth the outer edge. Place back in the freezer to set, at least 20 minutes. Serve anytime.

Notes

Kate, from Cookie and Kate, gave me the idea to add arrowroot starch, a natural root starch, to help absorb the ice crystals formed when re-freezing. As she mentions, it is optional; you can help reduce ice crystals by letting the ice cream sit for 5 minutes before serving instead.

These look great – I’ve never had a snickerdoodle, but since they’re unlikely to be vegan (and sold at stupidly high prices in the American Candy shops…) I never sought them out, despite cinnamon being one of my favourite flavours. Might just have a go at making these! Don’t have any puffed brown rice to hand, though. I could easily get some, but just out of interest, do you think I could sub anything in its place? (I’m not avoiding gluten:)